ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – NO GREATER LOVE – CHAVA DARAV LITH חבא דרב לית Cheth Beth Aleph Daleth Resh Beth Lamed Yod Taw

Ezekiel 33:32: “And, lo, thou [art] unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.”

Although racham is not mentioned in the first chapters of Genesis I believe the evidence of it is found in these first chapters. The very first verse tells us Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The word beginning in Hebrew is bereshith from the root word rosh which means the head, the top, the highest, or the start. It also has the idea of the best or choicest. This is the beginning of God’s best.

Indeed, after everything God created he declared that it was good or in the Hebrew tov which has the idea of being in perfect harmony. What God created was in perfect harmony with Him. Everything was in perfect harmony with Him until the fall of man. So, when God created man, he was made to be in perfect harmony with God.

We learn in high school physics that everything is made up of particles. Everything that exists in the natural world is made up of the same thing, particles that vibrate. In Genesis 1:2 we learn: “And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” That word moved is merachapheth which means to move rapidly, to flutter, or to vibrate. The Spirit of God vibrated over the earth which was without any substance, just a bunch of particles floating around and from that vibration he caused everything to come into being. Once more whatever His vibrations vibrated particles to become they were in sync or in harmony with His vibrations. I once heard one physicist say that everything, every animal, every rock, every planet, everything material vibrates and vibrations are what music is so everything has its own song that is in perfect harmony with God. Except man sinned and caused the natural world to fall out of harmony with God.

Consider for a moment your car radio. That station you listen has a number that represents frequencies or vibrations used by your local stations. If the FM dial is set to 89, the radio signal or wave or vibration that you hear is broadcasted at 89 MegaHertz (MHz) or 89 million cycles or vibrations per second. By tuning the radio receiver you have in your car to a specific frequency or vibration you pick up the specific signal. If you set your receiver to 89 MHz then you will receive that frequency or vibration to match the signal you are set to receive and you get a clear audio sound. However, as you are moving to 89 MHz you will start getting a sound when as you move your receiver to 89 MHz. You might start getting a sound at 88 MHz but it will be a clear sound, it will be full of static, a crackling or hissing noise because the vibrations you are receiving are not identical to the vibrations of the 89 MHz that are being transmitted. Once your receiver is set to 89 MHz you will get a clear sound. Digital audio is on the same principle but matches the vibrations even more closely.

This is where we find our basic difference between ‘ahav love and racham love. Love is close to the vibrations of God but love can be filled with selfishness, greed, personal desires, and many other things that are not in sync or compatible with God. Hence, even though you love, you are, close to the kingdom of God but you are not necessarily in total sync with God, you love maybe only 88 MHz but it is close to that 89 MHz. Once you get to that 89 MHz you have passed from ‘ahav to racham.

My theory that I hope to prove is that ‘ahav love differs from racham love in the fact that ‘ahav love is not in perfect harmony with God. There is a lot of love in this world and a lot of love that is not in harmony with God or does not quite vibrate in total sync with God. Someone may love a prostitute, drugs, alcohol or pornography. You can have affection and desire for all these things and call that affection and desire love ‘ahav, but it is not racham, it is not in harmony with God. It does not vibrate in sync with God’s vibrations. It comes from the beat of a different drummer to use an old expression.

What I am saying is that racham love as it is with ‘ahav love is basically vibrations emanating from one’s brain. The brain sends off electrical impulses and these impulses are vibrations. Take a close look at the word merachapheth or vibrations. This word comes from the root word rachaph. The first two letters are the same letters in racham. This is an indication that they spring from the same Semitic root word as a Semitic root often has just two letters. Racham is a specific vibration, a vibration of love but a vibration that is in sync in harmony with God. In the beginning, God created the world with racham love, a perfect love that was in harmony with Him. Note also the word for Spirit of God. It is rauch which is also from the same Semitic root as racham Resh, Cheth. The Spirit of God is the racham or love of God which vibrates racham to create all that exists. There is nothing that God created that He does not love.

Now let’s move down through God’s creation as He vibrates matter into objects creating things that are in sync with His vibrations. There is something very interesting in the grammar of the text during this creation process. When it comes to making man the narrative suddenly moves for a third person singular “He made” to a first-person plural “We will make.” First, we need to remember that plural in Hebrew does not necessarily mean the same thing as a plural in English. In English, it always means more than one. If this were an English plural we would have to assume God was speaking with someone and someone equal to Him because this someone else would be participating in the creation of man.

Now if God were to be taking on a partner in the creation of man, why just for the creation of man and not for the rest of creation? Was man going to be that complex that God needed to hire a consultant? Creation was easy, but getting to the man thing God was going to need some help. I know as Christians we would like to say it was Jesus but suppose it was Jesus, you are still talking two separate gods and we do not believe in two separate Gods but just one God in three persons. To maintain our belief in the Trinity we would still be in third person or first person singular.

Fortunately, the plural in Hebrew does not have to mean there was someone else around who was equal to God. Plural in Hebrew could mean one of two things or both. One that it is a reference to something that is more than one. The other could be a reference to order or rank. Like the winner of the Super Bowl is called the number one football team in the world. It is best that the game of football has to offer. So, when God was creating man he switched grammatically to the plural to indicate that this was his ultimate creation, his number one best creation. So, what made man so special? Two things, we were created in His image and He breathed into us the breath of life.

The first is that we were created in His image: Genesis 1:26: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” Note the verse says “In Our image after Our likeness”. The word image in betsalemenu from the root word tsalam. This is a word for cover or outer garment it is also used for a phantom. The word also is used for an idol, but not the physical idol but the spirit behind that idol. This has more of the idea of an intelligence, awareness or sense of purpose. The word also means complete. Every animal has some form of intelligence but it is not a complete intelligence. Animals do not have an imagination, creativity nor free will. Nor do they have a strong sense of purpose. Animals do not get depressed, they do not commit suicide. Animals are not created in the tsalam of God. They may have emotions, the ability love, and show caring but they operate by instinct. In humans, there are degrees of murder. First degree murder is pre-meditative, it is planned and thought out. Animals cannot be guilty of first-degree murder. They may commit second-degree murder which is intentional but not premeditative. That is a dog may kill a person attacking their master. No thought is given to it, they are just responding to their natural impulse to protect its alpha member. Then you have a murder that is in self defense. This is not necessarily considered murder, depending on the state you live in, but animals too will kill to defend themselves or to survive. You go to the zoo and see intelligent porpoises. It is almost like they think like a human. You never pay attention to the bucket next to the trainer and how he slips a piece of fish to the porpoise after he does one of his intelligent tricks. They are following instincts, doing something to get some food needed to survive.

Note the human being is also made in God’s likeness or kidemuthenu. Literally it is like a likeness. The word comes from the root word damah which is really a loan word from the Aramaic. It means to imagine, to reason or to create.

What does it mean to be created in his image? Our first thought is that we were created to look like God. But God is a spirit, he does not have two arms, two legs, face etc. We were not created to look like God but to have a creative mind like God, an imagination like God, and a sense of independence like God. Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” The word mind in Aramaic is ‘atara’u which is cognitive reasoning, the ability to think through a process, to interpret and analyze. Animals might demonstrate such ability but to a very limited degree and mostly in the sense of just survival and not to create or develop philosophical thought. This is what sets man apart from the animal kingdom and this is what the image and likeness of God is within man. Racham is a process of turning yourself into God’s wavelength, frequency or vibrations of love. Racham is natural in us as I will explain in another chapter when it comes to family and children. Racham is that part of us that God breathed into us that He did not breathe into animals. Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” The word breathe is neshemah which is a living spirit. This is related to the word imagine ortsalem which means a phantom. God gave us something he did not give the animals, a living spirit. It is this spirit that is eternal and capable of experiencing love or racham. It is the nature of this love that flows from our spirit that I will explore in this book.

Let’s move further into creation with the creation of the woman. First, we need to understand why the woman was created in the first place. She was created to be a helpmeet or ‘azar in Hebrew. We automatically read this as helpmate when we read this in our English Bible but if you are reading the King James Version, read it more closely, it is not helpmate but help meet. That is the true nature of the word ‘azar, one who helps in understanding. It is also a word used for a courtyard. Historically a courtyard was an open space surrounding a building. It had no roof but was open to the sky or the heavens. It performed much of the same functions as a home, cooking, sleeping, socializing, etc. but in open space rather than in the confines of a building with a roof. The main building was used for shelter, security, or protection for weather or outsiders that posed a threat.

Thus, a helpmeet was one that was open to heaven and its revelations while the adam or human-provided safety and security. A helpmeet or ‘azar was one who would help the adam or human see heaven or understand God. A helpmeet helped the adam meet God.

Genesis 2:18 “And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.”

So what is so bad about being alone. I live alone and when in the presence of God I do not feel lonely nor unfulfilled. Why would God create another entity to rival Him?

Well, the first thing to note is that this passage starts off with YHWH Elohim. All the way through chapter 1 and chapter 2 up to verse 5 it is Elohim who creates and calls into being. However, in verse 5 we find that God created the plants but they did grow because it did not rain. For the first time, Scripture references YHWH Elohim the Lord God. Once we leave the creation by Elohim and begin talking about this creation growing and reproducing it is now YHWH Elohim, the Lord God. Why is God’s name now being used?

The sages teach that Elohim is in a masculine form and YHWH is in a feminine form. Elohim represents the masculine nature of God YHWH represents the feminine nature of God. It takes a male and female to reproduce life and to provide for that life so it may grow. What is interesting is that the narrative starts and continues to use the double name YHWH Elohim especially with the creation of adam, the human being. At this stage, man is not really a man as we know him today. A man is distinguished from a woman by his sexual organs. Without a woman why would a man need sexual organs to compliment him? It could have been God’s intention for this adam to be both male and female i.e., a hermaphrodite and that maybe this adam was to reproduce on his own. In that case, this adam would have been more female than male. except that He knew it was not good or in harmony with Him for this adam to be alone

God saw that man or the human being was alone. Here is what is interesting about this word alone. It is the word badad in Hebrew. But in its Semitic root, this is an aloneness when it is separated from something. In fact, the root word means hail. Hail is made up of separate raindrops to bond together when frozen. What could this human being be separated from if it did not have a counterpart other than God? There is God and human being both like raindrops that are joined in one universe but still not totally bonded as they are separated by the natural from the supernatural.

There was one purpose that God had for creating this adam and that was to provide a love relationship. The racham, that which makes us the image of God, created by the Spirit or racham of God. Yet how was a natural being able to understand love with an unseen supernatural God?